Erthal (noble family)

Coat of arms of the Erthal family from Johann Siebmacher's coat of arms book

Erthal (also Ehrthal ) is the name of an old Franconian noble family . Untererthal , the ancestral home of the family, is now part of the city of Hammelburg in the Lower Franconian district of Bad Kissingen .

history

The family appeared in Franconia as early as the first half of the 12th century. Heinrich von und zu Erthal appears as one of the first documented relatives in 1170 , with whom the family line begins. His grandson Heinrich von Erthal died in 1261 as abbot of the Fulda monastery , while another grandson, Conrad von Erthal , continued the tribe. In 938 a Jakob von Erthal is said to have participated in the Magdeburg knight tournament.

One of his descendants Burchard of Erthal , Lord on Schwarzenau was 1520 Envoy of the Frankish knights in the imperial court and his great-grandson Johann Christoph von Erthal († 1637) was princely Wurzburg counsel and bailiff to Hassfurt .

In the middle of the 16th century the family was divided into two lines, a Fulda line, which already died out in 1640, and a Frankish line. The Franconian line founded a Leutzendorfer branch line in 1626 , which died out in 1764, and an Elfershauser branch line.

Because of the ownership or partial ownership of the lordships of Elfershausen (with Elfershausen Castle ), Obererthal , Untererthal (both today districts of Hammelburg ) and Hetzlos (today district of Oberthulba ), the Lords of Erthal were members of the imperial knighthood in the knightly canton of Rhön from the 16th century to 1806 -Werra of the Franconian knight circle . Because of the ownership of Schloss Gochsheim and Schloss Schwarzenau from the beginning of the 17th century to 1806, they were also registered in the knightly canton of Steigerwald and from around 1560 to 1802 in the knightly canton of Baunach . With parts of the dominion of Binzburg bei Hohberg , Hofweier and Schutterwald they belonged to the Ortenau district in the knightly canton Neckar-Black Forest of the Swabian knightly circle.

One of the last members of the family was Friedrich Karl Joseph Freiherr von Erthal (* 1719; † 1802). He was the son of the Kurmainzischen Obermarschall Philipp Christoph von und zu Erthal (* 1689, † 1748) and the Maria Eva Freiin von Bettendorff . In 1774 he became Archbishop and Elector of Mainz and the last Arch Chancellor of the Holy Roman Empire . In 1805, with the death of his brother Lothar Franz Michael Freiherr von Erthal (* 1717), electoral Mainz privy councilor , chief forest master and court court president, the male line became extinct . Whose inheritance fell to the Count Coudenhove .

coat of arms

The coat of arms is quartered . 1 and 4 in red two silver bars , 2 and 3 in blue. On the crowned helmet two buffalo horns , which are drawn like the shield. The helmet covers are blue-silver on the left and red-silver on the right.

Name bearer

Friedrich Karl Joseph von Erthal (1719–1802), Archbishop and Elector of Mainz

• Franz Ludwig von Erthal (* 1730; † 1795), Prince-Bishop of Würzburg and Bamberg
• Friedrich Karl Joseph von Erthal (* 1719; † 1802), Elector and Archbishop in Mainz
• Georg Friedrich von Erthal (* 1565; † 1601)
• Heinrich IV. Von Erthal (* around 1200; † 1261?), Prince abbot of the Fulda monastery
• Johann Christoph von Erthal (* 1682; † 1713), Canon of Bamberg , President of the Chamber
• Karl Friedrich Wilhelm von Erthal (* 1717; † 1780), Würzburg Canon and Privy Councilor
• Lothar Franz von Erthal (* 1717; † 1805), Mainz statesman, governor of Aschaffenburg
• Maria Sophia Margaretha Catharina von Erthal (* 1725; † 1796), a possible role model for Snow White
• Philipp Christoph von und zu Erthal (* 1689; † 1748), Obermarschall in Mainz, builder of the Erthaler Hof

literature

• Johannes Kist:  Erthal, Franz Ludwig von. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 5, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1961, ISBN 3-428-00186-9 , p. 371 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Genealogical manual of the nobility , Adelslexikon Volume III, Volume 61 of the complete series, CA Starke Verlag, Limburg (Lahn) 1975, ISSN  0435-2408
• Gerhard Köbler : Historical lexicon of the German countries. The German territories from the Middle Ages to the present. 7th, completely revised edition. CH Beck, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-406-54986-1 .
• Gerhard Friedrich Albrecht : Genealogical state calendar on the year MDCCLXXVI . Frankfurt / M. 1776, pp. 34–39 ( full text )
• Erthal, Ehrthal, also barons. In: Ernst Heinrich Kneschke: New general German nobility lexicon , third volume, Friedrich Voigt: Leipzig, 1861, p. 151 f. ( Digitized in the Google book search).

Individual evidence

1. ^ Gerhard Friedrich Albrecht : Genealogical state calendar on the year MDCCLXXVI . Frankfurt / M. 1776, p. 34.
2. ↑ As Georg Dietrich briefly mentioned in: Dieter J. Weiß:  Philipp Valentin Voit v. Rieneck. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 20, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-428-00201-6 , p. 372 f. ( Digitized version ).
3. ↑ Briefly mentioned in: Johannes Kist:  Franz Ludwig Freiherr von Erthal. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 5, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1961, ISBN 3-428-00186-9 , p. 371 f. ( Digitized version ).
4. ↑ Briefly mentioned in: Heribert Raab:  Friedrich Karl Frhr. v. Erthal. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 5, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1961, ISBN 3-428-00186-9 , p. 517 f. ( Digitized version ).
5. ↑ A Friedrich Karl is briefly mentioned in: Emanuel Leser:  Coudenhoven, Sophie Gräfin von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 4, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1876, p. 533.
6. ↑ Snow White's possible identity is examined in the Spessart Museum: Snow White - a Lohrerin?

Web links

Commons : Erthal  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Ancestral samples of Johann Philipp von und zu Ehrtal and Joannes Ludovicus Christianus von unndt zu Ehrthall at monasterium.net